SanDisk to launch yet another iPod Nano killer

Stan Beer
Monday, 21 August 2006 17:38

Your IT - Home IT

SanDisk is a company well known for being a leading producer of Flash RAM. What is less known by the consumer at large is that SanDisk holds a distant number two spot in the US digital music player market behind Apple's iPod. However, SanDisk has launched a bid to narrow the gap between itself and Apple with yet another new iPod Nano killer.

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, SanDisk plans to launch an MP3 player that gives double the storage value for a similar price as the best selling iPod Nano.

The SanDisk Sansa e280 will hold 8GB of storage for US$249 compared with the 4GB of the iPod Nano which sells for around the same price, depending where you buy it. SanDisk also plans to slash prices on its other players, according to the wall Street Journal.

The move by SanDisk is all well and good but sooner or later it is going to dawn upon MP3 player makers that this market is not just about hardware. It is also about the music store, DRM, and image - areas where Apple excels.

The company that the world expects to have the first real crack at Apple's dominance in this space is Microsoft, which seems to be sending signals that it at least understands what it's up against.

Other than Microsoft, the other big threat to iPod dominance will probably come from the mobile phone industry. Apple recognises this, which is why an iPod phone is most likely to be just around the corner.